John Zucco, former football coach at Bagdad and Tempe high schools, dies at 92

News that John Zucco died on Saturday at the age of 92 hit Frank Castro pretty hard.

Not long into a conversation about his 1952 six-man state championship Bagdad High football team – with Zucco coaching and Castro at defensive end – Castro has trouble keeping his composure, breaking down in tears.

Over the next few decades, if they'd run into each other in Tempe, they'd hug and move on, not many words exchanged. But they never needed long conversations to catch up. They were connected by that magical '52 season.

"I was the only Mexican on the team," said Castro, who would later become the head football coach at Tempe Marcos de Niza. "It didn't make a damn bit of difference to him. If you weighed only 130 pounds and you had to go up against much bigger guys, it didn't matter to him, as long as you played hard.

"He never yelled at a kid. He never hurt a kid. But you could tell when things were not the way he wanted it to be. He'd give you that look."

A memorial service for Zucco will be held Friday at 10:30 a.m. at Christ the King Church in Mesa. His burial will be at 1:30 p.m. at National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.

A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, from 1 to 4 p.m., at Shalimar Country Club.

Zucco coached Tempe High to a 10-0 mythical state championship in 1956, before the Arizona Interscholastic Association started a playoff format. He also coached Tempe High to track-and-field titles. He retired in 1983.

He was current AIA Executive Director David Hines' track coach at Tempe in the 1970s.

"A great human being, who pushed you as an athlete to be your best, while respecting the sport and doing things the right way," Hines said. "I had great respect for the man."

Zucco got his first coaching job at Bagdad, a year after he was team captain of the 1950 Arizona State football team that went 9-2 in Ed Doherty's last season as coach. Zucco played offensive guard as those Sun Devils scored 404 points and played in the Salad Bowl.

In his second season leading Bagdad's football team, he led the Sultans to the six-man mythical state title with Castro, running back Jerry Albright and quarterback Charles Foster.

The following year, he left to become football coach at Tempe.

"We were state champs my sophomore year, and (Tempe) hired him right away," Albright said. "They knew how good he was.

"He was so close to us. Shortly after that time, I had a bad car wreck. One of my friends was killed. He came to Wickenburg to the funeral. I was having a hard time then. He took me to Phoenix with him. I stayed with him for a month. He helped me get through that time."

Castro said that Bagdad was just a small piece of land on the side of a hill back then, but Zucco transformed the team as soon as he got there.

"I don't know how they got Coach Zucco to come to Bagdad," Castro said. "Because it was nothing. There was nothing there. From ASU to Bagdad, that was unbelievable.

"There was not much talent, but he was capable of bringing the best out of us."

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